Easter Eggs
by fanfic1975
Summary: ONE-SHOT. Mostly fluff with Steph and her family on Easter. Ranger and Morelli are mentioned but no one is hurt. Babe HEA in the end.


**Easter Eggs**

**This one will be a bit different. I am not going to go into the past history of Steph, Joe and Ranger. We all know it and don't feel like going over it all again. The way they meet is all the same as in the books. **

**This is purely fluff, not much interaction. Mostly thoughts and actions of Steph and her family with a little Ranger love thrown in.**

**Janet Evanovich owns all but I just play with them. Someday I hope for a Ranger of my own, until then this will have to do!**

**Any and all mistakes are mine and mine alone. This is not beta'd and it won't be. I write for fun not for money. **

**SPOV**

Things were finally going the way I wanted. My bills are paid, there is food in my refrigerator, my car hasn't blown up in months, and I even had a little money in the bank. Not a lot but enough where I didn't have to worry. Right now I didn't have a man in my life but I was okay with that. It had been my decision.

About 6 months ago Joe Morelli and I broke up. There was no big fight, no angry words, and no yelling. We sat and talked, like adults, about what we wanted in our lives and came to the decision that what we wanted for ourselves wasn't what the other wanted. He is still a good friend and someone who I will always love but only as a friend. We still do pizza, beer and hockey; only now his girlfriend Sam is with us. I couldn't have picked someone better for him. She is 'burg all the way and his family loves her.

Ranger was "in the wind" and has been for the last 5 months. Before he left, he asked me to come back to work for RangeMan and after a lot of thinking I decided to take the job. Ranger was my best friend and I worried about him when he was gone. I had a feeling there was more he wanted to ask me but it wasn't the right time for us. Working at RangeMan is the reason why I have food and a savings. I mainly do searches but also help out with the business end of things also. Turns out customers like talking to a woman more than the MerryMen!

I love working with the MerryMen. Tank, Lester, and Bobby have been my lifeline the last few months. They have taken turns training me since I was required to exercise and carry my gun. At first, it was really hard but I was determined to do it. Every day the guys tell me how proud of me they are. There isn't a better feeling than that.

My mother has finally gotten off my back. I sat her down and explained that I was not with Joe anymore and that I was happy about it. She started in about him being my last chance at happiness and I told her that she had to accept it and move on; if she didn't I wasn't going to go over there anymore. I think she is finally starting to understand that I don't want the same things that she did. Maybe someday, I would want them but not anytime in the near future.

There is little over a week until Easter and I am heading to get some shopping done. I wanted to get gifts for my nieces and maybe something for the guys at work. Not sure what yet but half the fun is finding the perfect gifts. Of course, I will get baskets and candy but I want something personal for each of the girls.

I pull up to the mall outside of Macy's and head in. I wandered over to the jewelry selection, keeping an eye out. I spotted a necklace that was shaped in the form of a horse with Cubic Zirconium stones in the inside of it. I asked the lady if I could see it and she brought it over. I knew that Mary Alice would love it.

Next I found a very pretty necklace that was in the shape of an 'A', this too had the Cubic Zirconium inside but only this has pink stones in it. I am sure Angie will like it and the price wasn't very bad either. That just leaves Lisa. She is only two but I wanted her to have something special too. I looked over the necklaces and decided on one like Angie's, only with an 'L'. The 'L' was also Cubic Zirconium but with a green tint to the stones.

I made my way over to the cashier and bought the three necklaces. I tucked them inside my purse and kept wandering around looking for anything. I glanced at the shoes and decided that I was going to just buy things for the girls. I didn't find anything else and I was happy with what I had purchased so I left Macy's with a smile!

I headed over to Wal-Mart to get the baskets and the treats for them. I found 3 pink medium sized baskets and put them in the cart. There was a lot of little Easter toys that I added, making sure that I had three of everything. The little windup Easter bunny was so cute! I grabbed pink, blue, green and yellow grass for the bottoms. I also pickup up 100 empty eggs that I could fill for an egg hunt.

There was a large camouflage basket that I thought would be perfect for the guys. I figured I can fill it with healthy snacks and a few treats and they would love it. They are not used to getting anything so the littlest things mean a lot for them. I put an extra package of green into my basket figuring I better not use the pink!

There was an aisle just for Easter goodie so I filled my shopping cart with all different types of candy shaped in eggs, crosses, and bunnies. I also found some goodies that were half way healthy for the guys basket. After I had loaded up on loose candy for the eggs I was ready to head out. On my way out I found some cute Easter bunny socks that would be cute for the girls and got a pack for each of them.

When I got to my car I unloaded everything and headed toward home. As I was driving I got an idea for the eggs and swung through a drive thru bank and got a roll of quarters. I was lucky enough to get a good parking space for once at my apartment. I was glad; I had a lot of bags to haul in. After a few trips I finally had everything in my apartment.

Once inside, I called Pino's for supper and got down to business. I had fun putting them together. It didn't take me very long to put them all together. When I was done I left them on my table and moved to the couch to fill the eggs while I watched TV.

I flipped through channels and couldn't find anything on that I wanted to watch to I put Ghostbusters into the DVD player. I don't think that I could ever get enough of this movie. I couldn't count how many times I have watched it.

Just as I sat down I realized that I didn't have anything to put the eggs in so I got up and grabbed a laundry basket. I started filling the eggs with the quarters, two quarters per egg, filling 20 eggs with quarters. I started in with the candy, I think for every five pieces I put in the egg, I ate at least one. I finished up the eggs and put them in the kitchen, ready to go on Sunday.

The rest of the week went by fast, I heard from Tank that Ranger was close to finishing up his job and he was fine. That news put me on a high that lasted the rest of the week. I was happy he was coming home and glad he was ok, I had really missed my best friend. I wished that more could happen between us but I know his stance on relationships; as long as I had him in my life I was happy.

Finally it was Sunday; I was so glad to see that the sun was shining. I was hoping for good weather for the egg hunt. We usually had lunch around 1 pm so I wanted to head over there early to get the eggs out before the girls got there. I also wanted to stop and drop off the basket for the guys before I went to my parents.

I left with plenty of time and pulled up to Haywood. I fobbed my way in to the garage and rode up to the fifth floor. I said hi to everyone in the office and went into the break room. I left the basket with a note that it was from me for them. I stopped and told a couple of the guys it was there and received some hugs and thanks you's! I gave them all a wave and headed over to my parents.

When I got to my parents I told my mom about the eggs she was surprised that I went through the trouble, but I wasn't going to let her remarks bother me today. I just wanted to enjoy my time with my nieces. Grandma helped me hide them where it would be easy for the girls to find and we got done right before they got there.

Val, Albert and the girls got there about a half an hour before it was time to eat. We all sat and visited while mom put dinner on the table. Val and I offered to help but she would let us; which was probably good for me. It didn't take long for us to eat and soon I was giving the girls their Easter baskets. They loved the necklaces I gave them; each of them putting them on right away. I told them about the egg hunt and they were excited.

We all headed outside to find the eggs. When I realized that I didn't have anything for the girls to put the eggs into mom went inside. She had a few baskets from previous years at her house so she went to get them for the girls to use. I couldn't believe that I forgot about them, but oh well, it was a small detail.

I had asked Val if I could help Lisa, and she didn't have a problem with that. I had so much fun running around the yard helping her find the eggs, I wanted to make sure that she got as many as her sisters did. All you could hear in the yard was the giggling of the girls and my parents and Val laughing. Occasionally, they would yell out to help one of the girls find one.

When we thought we had them all we counted the eggs, turns out we were missing two of them. That's when the big hunt started. Mom, Dad, Val, and Albert all helped look for the missing eggs. It only took us about five minutes. Dad and Val were the ones to find the missing eggs.

We all sat outside on the patio as the girls went through their eggs to find out what was in there. They were excited as they opened the eggs. Their laughter was infectious and it was hard not to have a smile on your face. I looked around and found that I wasn't the only one smiling. Amazing enough, they all got about equal the amount of quarters. They had more candy then they knew what to do with!

All three girls came running up to me and tackled me in a big hug, thanking me for their basket and the egg hunt. I was so glad that they had a great Easter, and I was part of that.

We all went inside to have some desert, well the adults did, and the kids filled themselves on candy. As I was getting ready to go, I promised the kids that I would take them to the new Disney movie that was out next weekend.

I headed home early evening feeling happy. I run up the stairs to my apartment and let myself in. I put my bag down in the kitchen and walked into the living room and stopped short.

There lying on my couch was Ranger. He was still sleeping and I sat down on the coffee table in front of him, just watching him. It didn't look like he was injured but judging from the darkness around his eyes he was exhausted. I was happy he was home, but confused as to why he was sleeping on my couch. I decided to let him sleep and get changed into some comfy clothes. As I was walking by him, he reached up and grabbed my hand.

"Hey Babe." He said, holding onto my hand pulling me down to sit by him.

"Ranger, when did you get home?" I sat down on the edge of the couch next to him and asked.

"Just a bit ago, sorry I fell asleep." He smiled up to me and for a second I couldn't think.

"Not a problem, looks like you needed it. Not that I mind but how come here though, why not at home?" I said brushing my thumb under his eye at the darkness. He looked so tired still.

"Home is where you are. You were going to be here so that is where I wanted to be. I love you, Steph." Wow! Did I hear him right? Did he say he loved me without qualifiers? I looked at him to make sure.

"Yes, you did hear me right, no qualifiers, just me simply loving you. Please tell me you will be mine?" He said pulling me closer, proving his ESP is still working.

I leaned over him brushing my lips across his and whispered "Yes, Ranger. I will be yours as long as you're mine. I love you, too."

He gave me a 200 million watt smile and pulled me down for more kisses.

This is the best Easter ever!

**The jewelry from Macy's for the girls I made up. I did check out their website but nothing seemed to fit…so I made up my own! So much better that way! I am sure some where there is necklaces like I described but not sure where!**

**Make sure you review! Always love reviews!**


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